Police: Hinesburg woman to be charged next month

Nov. 16, 2012

Jenifer Audette of Hinesburg. / Courtesy Essex Police Department

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

A 36-year-old former Community Health Center of Burlington worker from Hinesburg has been cited into court on allegations she used her employment to fraudulently obtain prescription opiate pills.

Jenifer Audette, who worked at the center on Riverside Avenue, will face “multiple counts of prescription fraud and identity theft” when she is arraigned Dec. 27 at Vermont Superior Court in Burlington, according to a statement released Friday by the Essex Police Department.

Audette is accused of forging or inserting the signature of a health-center doctor on specially designed drug prescription forms at her work site in order to obtain the pills from area pharmacies, Essex detective Lt. George Murtie said.

Audette also made it look like people other than herself were being prescribed the drugs, Murtie said.

“She was the one who received them, but other persons’ names were used in some cases,” Murtie said. “We don’t know if that’s because they were for other people or if this was an attempt to divert attention away from herself.”

Murtie said the investigation, a joint effort of the Essex police and agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, is ongoing.

A phone number for Audette could not be found Friday.

Murtie said police first learned about Audette’s alleged conduct when they were contacted by the Community Health Center.

Jack Donnelly, the center’s executive director, said his organization acted after receiving a phone call Tuesday from an Essex pharmacist who thought a prescription she was asked to fill looked suspicious.

“She had pretty much figured out it was a forgery and called us to let us know,” Donnelly said. “We were able to narrow down who we thought it was.” He said the center contacted police Wednesday.

“It was pretty sharp work by the pharmacist,” he added.

Audette had worked at Community Health Center for about 18 months as a unit secretary, which put her in close contact with the facility’s doctors, Donnelly said.

Audette was dismissed from her job this week, he said.

“She was a good employee, a hard worker,” he said. “She made a big, big mistake.”

Murtie said the citation served on Audette involves two recent incidents involving opiate medications that Audette obtained at an Essex pharmacy.

“We suspect there are more, maybe a half dozen,” Murtie said. “It goes back several months.” He said the average number of pills involved in each prescription illicitly obtained was about 200.